The Jake Paul Conundrum – good or bad for boxing? 

The above is an easy answer for me.

BAD.

Paul was stopped by former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in six rounds in glitzy Miami, Fl, last weekend.

Reasons?

The way he attained his fights. Boxing has always (or once was) about working your way up the rankings.

Boxers fought four-rounders. Then six- rounders, etc. A fighter’s ability (most of the time) drove the narrative. Passion and nobility.

I say most of the time because fighters like Muhammad Ali, using his mouth and ability at self-promotion, created an image.

Fans loved or hated him, but they knew who he was.

Paul gained some fame on YouTube by competing against basketball players and MMA fighters.

And an over-the-mountain fifty-six-year-old.

Ali was a gold medalist.

Ali worked his way up the rankings.

Ali could fight.

And well, extremely well.

Paul? He wanted none of the old ways. He used what he had extremely well.

He sold it himself.

It worked. He made 92 million dollars in his last fight.

Did he hurt boxing?

To a degree, yes.

Boxing challenges its fans. From bad judging to hideous matchmaking, the sport can feel like a drug you can’t kick.

You know it’s bad for you, but you’re addicted.

Boxers’ legacies matter more to the fans than the promoters (and sometimes, the fighters)

It’s not like this is a new thing, though. Ali fought a wrestler in the 1970s.

Floyd Mayweather boxed mixed marshal star Conor McGregor.

One thing is the same. Money is motivation.

The dark history is there. The mob was involved in boxing in the 1940s and 50s. People frequently talked about Sugar Ray Robinson and gangster Blinky Palermo in the same conversation.

Slimy as well – treating fighters like garbage.

Promoters often think they’re more important than fighters.  But there were some things you could mostly count on.

Some will call Paul a winner because of the millions he made. I know, prizefighting.

But the reality is, he’s barely an average fighter.

What about his opponent, Joshua?

He’s 36 now, and as my friend Rick Glaser likes to say, on the back nine of his career. But he’s not shot.

Joshua’s performance against Paul?

“I needed to do better. It’s a win, but it’s not a success,” said Joshua, who knocked Paul down four times. “I think my coach expects more from me, and I expect more for myself. But what can we do? We can’t reverse the clock.   “I have to move forward. I have to put that in the past now. After today, you may see a bit of social media trying to lap up all of the algorithm attention, but for me, it’s in the past. I can’t live off of that win. I’ve got a lot of improvement that I need to do, so yeah, I’m not happy.”

Improvement.?

I don’t think so. Joshua was in a lose-lose situation. Many predicted a first “second” knockout.

There’s also the fact that he was slow and awkward. People who don’t know much about boxing will call him a fraud and a bum.

Fair? No, but he apparently accepted this. He got his money and left basically unscathed.   Joshua was never a great fighter, anyway.

Is Paul done boxing? I can only hope. I’ll give him credit for getting up and getting punished.

That last right hand was a bullet (and broke his jaw in two places)

Boxing has enough problems.

Thanks for the circus, Jake.